Thursday, November 13, 2008

A Journey in Faith Against Cancer - Part 4

This article is part of a series which might be better understood by starting at the first post.

Pistis Means Having Faith AND Being Faithful

The word often translated as "faith" in the New Testament is the Greek word "pistis". Strong's Concordance definition states:

1) conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it

2) fidelity, faithfulness

When people speak of having faith in Christ, they often make it appear to be a one-way street. They use it to express their beliefs about God and what He will do for them. But embodied in the word Pistis is not just our belief in God, but our simultaneous faithfulness to Him. In fact, I would venture to say that you cannot have one without the other. IF you have faith in God (believe He is who He is), then you WILL be faithful to Him (obey what He says).

Monday, November 10, 2008

A Journey in Faith Against Cancer - Part 3

This article is part of a series which might be better understood by starting at the first post.

Growing In Faith Through Obedience

Recently, I was in a conversation with a co-worker about the 2008 presidential election. I indicated that I was not a supporter of Barack Obama's and stated that one major reason was his unfettered support of abortion. I told her I could not support abortion under any circumstances.

My co-worker then said, "What if it was your daughter? What if the doctors said that having this baby would kill her and you had to choose between the life of your daughter and her baby?"

Dismissing the fact that less than 1% of abortions are performed for such catastrophic situations, I thoughtfully considered her comment. "Well," I said, "Don't forget, you are speaking to someone who doctors said would surely die if I did not have chemo and radiation. One thing this experience has shown me is that I don't have to be afraid to obey what God says. His mind is above the mind of man and He is all-powerful. I know that He can override all that the world has to say when we obey Him."